This invention relates to a method and means for loading a container.
The invention is not intended to be limited to loading of only containers but has particular value when so applied.
The problem to which this invention has particular application relates to the loading of containers insofar that there is advantage in packing as many goods as is possible into the space of a container.
This invention is thus especially we feel the loading of containers made according to I.S.O. standards such as are typically used for shipping purposes around the world and which is of rectangular proportions and is accessible from one end for loading purposes.
With present equipment, if the container is to be loaded from the floor to ceiling, each package, typically a bag of wheat, will have to be taken from a delivery elevator which has a fixed position and then "lumped" i.e. manually accepted, carried and placed into a stacked position.
Particular difficulty arises when the bag is to be located close to, or in fact adjacent, a ceiling where an individual can find great difficulty shifting a bag equivalent to a weight of perhaps 50 to 60 kilograms into such a confined space from one end only.
The difficulty is self-evident and, in practice, it is time-consuming and therefore expensive to achieve a fully packed container. Many containers are therefore not fully filled, with resultant waste space for transport purposes.
A major problem in providing a means for loading a container is to provide for a sufficiently good control to enable accurate placement of each package or loose material, and in particular with relatively heavy packages. A difficulty in providing a conveyor to convey the material is that the conveyor is quite bulky and material to be loaded generally falls from the end of the conveyor means into position. The conveyor takes up room above the position to be loaded and therefore a container cannot be filled to the top. One way of overcoming this is to manually unload from the end of the conveyor to the required position, and the problems of unloading a heavy package are outlined above again come into play.